Donald Trump ordered to block some files of the 2,800-document bunch, which were unveiled this week. The FBI and Central Intelligence Agency strongly advised the US President to stop the release of other records to be reviewed further.
The US Congress had ordered in 1992 that the public will have the access to the all remaining sealed files pertaining to the investigation into Kennedy’s death. On October 26, 2017, after 25 years of the Congress’ order, the files about the JFK murder could be open to the public, except for those the president authorized for further withholding.
The case of the murder of the former President Kennedy took a long time, many governmental agencies like CIA and FBI did their best to solve the assassination. Gradually, the documents ceased to be classified, they were opened for public access. However, many files were edited, which made it impossible for the reader to create a complete picture, to add up the whole puzzle.
POTUS decided at the last minute to stagger the final release over the next 180 days while FBI and CIA studied whether any documents should stay sealed or redacted. On Saturday, President Trump had confirmed that he would allow for the release of the final batch of once-classified records, amounting to tens of thousands of pages, “subject to the receipt of further information.”
Donald Trump about the releasing the files on JFK assassination
According to the White House statement, the rest of 2,800 unveiled documents will be released “on a rolling basis,” with “redactions in only the rarest of circumstances,” by the end of the review on April 26, 2018.
“Therefore, I am ordering today that the veil finally be lifted,”
Trump wrote, adding that he had no choice but to accept the requested redactions for now.
According to the National Archives, there are 5 million pages of JFK assassination-related records, 88 percent of them have been available to the public without restriction since the late 1990s. Another 11 percent have been released with sensitive portions redacted, so, up to date, the only 1 percent has to remain withheld in full to Americans.
